BOSTON (WHDH) - An MBTA bus driver has been charged with homicide for allegedly running over another man with his car in front of the Jackson Square T station, according to the Suffolk County DA’s Office.
Maximo Mazanett, 54, was arraigned at the Roxbury Division of Boston Municipal Court on a murder charge, and bail was set at $250,000. Mazanett was also ordered to surrender his passport, not drive a car and have no contact with any witness while his case is pending.
Security footage captured Thomas Ruffen, 39, as he walked from his home near Jackson Square toward Columbus Avenue at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. He began to have trouble walking and reportedly fell, and was lying in the street in front of an intersection. A bus driver saw him lying on the right lane and stopped in the center lane.
Mazanett then drove up and stopped his 2011 Ford Explorer directly in front of Ruffen. Witnesses told Mazanett that someone was on the ground in front of his car. Despite this knowledge, prosecutors allege that he reversed his car several feet, waited for the light to turn green and drove over Ruffen, dragging him across four lanes. He again stopped his car on the other side of the intersection with Ruffen’s body under his car.
Boston EMS responded to the scene and pronounced Ruffen dead.
“The decisions made by this defendant are so heartless and pitiless they’re difficult to comprehend,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said. “Instead of waiting for an unusual roadway situation to be resolved he made the decision to drive forward, knowing full well the consequences involved. That unfathomable action ended the victim’s life and dramatically altered his own.”
According to the MBTA, Mazanett was suspended from the transportation authority following his arrest.
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